‘Tactful Self-Promotion’ Can Go A Long Way To Help Advance A Career

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WWR Article Summary (tl;dr)Two office workers joined forces to publish the book “Power Your Career: The Art of Tactful Self-Promotion at Work.” It provides tips for employers, jobseekers and recent graduates on how to show themselves off in the workplace.

MINNEAPOLIS

With decades of experience in human resources and having worked together for years at the Twin Cities office of Lee Hecht Harrison, a career services firm, Nancy Burke and Richard Dodson always joked they should write a book.

That joke became a reality in 2013 when they decided it was time to put their years of expertise in career consulting on paper.

The two decided to specifically focus on an area they felt was seldom discussed but that a lot of clients struggled with: how to promote yourself in the workplace.

In January 2016, they published the book “Power Your Career: The Art of Tactful Self-Promotion at Work.” It provides tips for employers, jobseekers and recent graduates on how to show themselves off in the workplace.

Even after deciding to write, the process wasn’t easy, as Burke and Dodson described in an interview. Some excerpts:

Q: What inspired you to decide that it was time to actually sit down and write the book?

Burke: The genesis of the idea was Richard’s initially. It’s actually explained in the first couple paragraphs of the book. He and his co-worker (Laura) were walking down the hall and they see the boss.

And he asked, “How is it going?” and Laura says, “It’s great. We just finished the designs for the interviewing skills and beta-tested it. I think it’s going to be great.” The boss asks Richard how he was and Richard said, “Fine.” When the boss left, Laura said, “How do you expect the boss to know what you are doing if you don’t tell him?” That whole idea of having to promote yourself came from that.